"I love the fans; I just imagined them saying 'Deuce' the whole time," said Choice, who wears double deuces - 22 - on his jersey. "It's fun, man, in an atmosphere like that, playing Miami."

Fun particularly for Choice, who is undefeated in three games against the Hurricanes. He made his starting debut in place of an injured P.J. Daniels two years ago on the same field, rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Choice's carries and yardage Saturday marked career highs, and his 204 yards on the ground was the ninth-best performance in program history. Daniels was the last Georgia Tech tailback to rush for over 200 yards, gaining 240 against North Carolina in 2003.

That Choice did it behind a patchwork offensive line in a game that could have broken the Yellow Jackets' season made the accomplishment all the more impressive.

Georgia Tech rotated six offensive linemen at four spots, with only left tackle Andrew Gardner playing the entire game. Starting right guard Nate McManus and right tackle Jacob Lonowski sat because of injuries.

Matt Rhodes, the regular start at left guard, alternated between the left and right sides along with reserves Trey Dunmon and Dan Voss, while Dunmon also rotated with center Kevin Tuminello.

Cord Howard and A.J. Smith rotated at right tackle.

Yet Rhodes said he felt the line come together late in the second quarter when Voss returned to the huddle telling his teammates, "I got this. I got this."

Georgia Tech rushed for 192 of its 267 yards and scored all 17 points in the second half against a defense that often put eight or nine defenders near the line of scrimmage to stop the run.

Yellow Jacket quarterback Taylor Bennett ran for both of his team's touchdowns, and Georgia Tech ran out the final 5 minutes, 32 seconds of the game, doing most of the work on the ground.

"It's great to be able to put it on your back, run down the clock and win the game," Rhodes said. "We really came together as a team, and it showed in the fourth quarter."

The victory comes at a crucial point in the season for the Yellow Jackets. They improve to 4-3 overall, 2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and face Army next Saturday before a week off to prepare for Virginia Tech.

Linebacker Philip Wheeler sensed the season was in jeopardy at halftime Saturday. The Yellow Jackets trailed 7-0 and had been hamstrung by mistakes, from a Bennett interception thrown in the end zone to a missed tackle on a fourth-and-one play that turned into a 39-yard touchdown run by Miami's Shawnbrey McNeal.

"I was trying to rally our troops up to make big plays," Wheeler said. "I told Choice, 'You get the line to block for you, we're in there.' Sure enough, the second half, we got a lot of running yards."

The Hurricanes' physical defensive line was forcing Choice to run outside the tackle to the strongside of the formation, right into Cooper. By using tight end Colin Peek or fullback Mike Cox to block Cooper, the coaching staff opened up an outside running lane for Choice.

And Bond called enough inside runs and bootlegs - Bennett's two touchdown runs - to keep Miami off balance.

Cooper had six tackles in the first half, only two after halftime.

"I can't give enough credit (the offensive assistant coaches) in the second half with all those adjustments that they made to take advantage," head coach Chan Gailey said. "Miami was stuffing us in the first half. They came in and adjusted and did a great job with an offensive line that was hurting."